POP
ASSEMBLY OF DUST It was only a matter of time. The Reid Genauer-fronted roots-inclusive rockers have released an album called “Some Assembly Required.’’ And thanks to a little help from friends like Bela Fleck, John Scofield, and Grace Potter, it’s deservedly getting some of the best reviews of the group’s career. 9 p.m. Sept. 24. $16.50. Paradise. 877-598-8689. www.livenation.comJAMES MCMURTRY The take-no-prisoners Texan is the kind of singer-songwriter critics rave about because he is smart, unflinchingly honest, funny, and attuned to the kind of melancholy that lingers in the most satisfying fashion. Plus he’s got a funky voice and a bad attitude. All of which is true about his latest album, “Just Us Kids.’’ 9:45 p.m. Sept. 26. $12. Johnny D’s. 800-838-3006. www.brownpapertickets.com
MIKE VIOLA Viola isn’t a household name, but this son of Stoughton’s music has played in many a household thanks to his work on irresistible, and funny, songs in films like “That Thing You Do!’’ and “Walk Hard: the Dewey Cox Story.’’ Throw in his own power-pop confections both as a solo artist and with his band the Candy Butchers and you have yourself a tuneful time. 8:30 p.m. Sept. 26. $18. Lizard Lounge. 617-759-0759. www.lizardloungeclub.com
YEAH YEAH YEAHS Strap on your dancing shoes, muss up your hair, and get some stretching in because Karen O and the boys hit the Hub in service of their fancy, dance-y, exclamatory new album, “It’s Blitz!’’ 7:30 p.m. Sept. 28. $32.50. Orpheum Theatre. 877-598-8689. www.livenation.com SARAH RODMAN
FOLK, WORLD & COUNTRY
PETER MULVEY Be sure to check out Mulvey’s leg muscles when he’s in town this week. The singer-songwriter is on his “Long Haul Tour,’’ a 1,100-mile bike trip that has taken him from Michigan to Massachusetts, including tonight’s show at the Lizard Lounge and two more tomorrow at Club Passim. (Inquiring minds want to know where he stashes the guitar on the road.) 8:30 p.m. Sept. 24. $15. Lizard Lounge. 617-547-0759. www.brownpapertickets.com. 7 and 10 p.m. Sept. 25. $20. Club Passim. 617-492-7679. www.clubpassim.comLOS ENANITOS VERDES It’s hard to overstate Los Enanitos Verdes’ importance when the band formed in Argentina in 1979, pioneering a new and harder sound that would become the cornerstone of the Rock en Español movement. Thirty years later they’re still at it, albeit with a more streamlined and radio-friendly aesthetic. 8 p.m. Sept. 25. $40-$50. House of Blues. 617-931-2000. www.ticketmaster.com
THE DITTY BOPS We haven’t heard as much as we’d like from the lovable indie-folk duo of Amanda Barrett and Abby DeWald in recent years, but no doubt their songs still brim with dulcet harmonies and sunny melodies played on guitar, mandolin, and ukulele. 7 p.m. Sept. 27. $20. Club Passim. 617-492-7679. www.clubpassim.com
MICAH BLUE SMALDONE This Maine-based singer-songwriter with a punk-rock past sort of looks like his acoustic music sounds: as if he just emerged from deep in the heart of the woods. For cheap and easy reference, you might think of Smaldone, a thoughtful fingerpicker who plays a mean banjo, as Ray LaMontagne without the major label and the radio play. 10 p.m. Sept. 28. Free. ZuZu, 474 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge. www.mideastclub.com JAMES REED
JAZZ
MATT WILSON QUARTET The seriously playful drummer/composer and his versatile quartet saxophonist/bass clarinetist Andrew D’Angelo, tenor saxophonist/clarinetist Jeff Lederer, and bassist Chris Lightcap return to Wilson’s old stomping grounds to support their accessibly adventurous new CD, “That’s Gonna Leave a Mark.’’ 8 p.m. Sept. 24. $10. Rutman’s Violins, 11 Westland Ave., Boston. www.rutmansviolins.com JOSH ROSEN/STAN STRICKLAND DUO Pianist/composer Rosen and multitalented saxophonist Strickland, Boston jazz veterans who have been performing as a scintillating duo since 2007, celebrate the release of “Instinct,’’ their debut disc as a team. 8 p.m. Sept. 25. $15-$20. First Unitarian Universalist Church, 35 Church St., Watertown. 617-782-8718, www.tremedalconcerts.org
AARDVARK JAZZ ORCHESTRA The marvelous Boston-based big band opens its 37th season with a program titled “All Blues,’’ saluting the 50th anniversaries of two iconic recordings: Miles Davis’s “Kind of Blue’’ and Charles Mingus’s “Mingus Ah Um.’’ The program includes new arrangements of seminal compositions from those albums, as well as blues-based pieces from Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Aardvark’s musical director Mark Harvey. 8 p.m. Sept. 30. $18. Scullers. 617-562-4111, www.scullersjazz.com KEVIN LOWENTHAL
CLASSICAL
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA James Levine leads the orchestra and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus in Mozart’s Requiem and Stravinsky’s “Symphony of Psalms.’’ Vocal soloists include Grazia Doronzio, Anke Vondung, Michael Schade, and Eric Owens. Sept. 26 and 29, $29-$115, Symphony Hall. 617-266-1200, www.bso.orgVOICE OF AMERICA Boston Modern Orchestra Project is partnering with the Florestan Recital Project and the Tufts University Department of Music to present this three-day, six-concert mini-festival spotlighting American vocal music. Each day begins with a Florestan performance of Barber songs and continues with an orchestral program conducted by Gil Rose. Sept. 25-27, $18-$30, Granoff Music Center at Tufts. 617-627-3679, www.bmop.org.
RUSSELL SHERMAN The pianist welcomes New England Conservatory’s new Steinway with an aptly programmed recital made up exclusively of preludes (by Debussy and Chopin). Sept. 24, Free, Jordan Hall. 617-585-1260, www.necmusic.edu.
WU MAN AND LYNN CHANG The Foundation for Chinese Performing Arts presents these two formidable players in an intriguing program billed as a “Dialogue Between Pipa and Violin,’’ with works by Chen Yi and Lou Harrison supported by A Far Cry chamber orchestra and percussionist Robert Schulz. Sept. 26, $15-$50, Jordan Hall. 781-259-8195, www.chineseperformingarts.net. JEREMY EICHLER 
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